As a new mother, I am deeply concerned about the health care crisis in this country. My husband and I cannot afford to purchase health insurance for our family.
Everyone in this country deserves access to health care that is of good quality and affordable. People die in this country every day because they cannot get the health care that they need and deserve.
Health care reform at the national level must include a public plan. It cannot be left to the insurance companies to make health care insurance affordable to everyone. With a public plan, everyone would have access to coverage, and families such as mine wouldn't have to worry about health care costs plunging us into debt.
There are thousands of hardworking people like us in Maine and millions of Americans who cannot afford health insurance.
Sen. Olympia Snowe has a crucial role to play in making sure health care truly is affordable, for Mainers and for everyone in America. She is under incredible pressure to save money on the health care reform program by slashing affordability. Snowe must do the right thing.
I believe that the public plan should have a sliding scale, with subsidies for families under 400 percent of the national poverty level. The health care system in this country is broken, as it does not work for millions of Americans.
We need reform and we need it now. We cannot afford to wait any longer.
Annie Arnold, Lewiston
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This is ridiculous, if Annie
This is ridiculous, if Annie and her husband can not afford for heathcare why not sell their expensive house and reconsider their priorities. I could see if you were living in poverty but to cry over not being about to afford healthcare when you live in an expensive house and drive brand new cars and have toys, please. Suck it up.
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This is ridiculous, if Annie and her husband can not afford for heathcare why not sell their expensive house and reconsider their priorities. I could see if you were living in poverty but to cry over not being about to afford healthcare when you live in an expensive house and drive brand new cars and have toys, please. Suck it up.
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When's obama gonna close Gitmo?
When's obama gonna get us out of Iraq?
When's obama gonna get us out of Afghanistan?
When's obama gonna bomb Irans's and No. Korea's reactors?
When's obama gonna lower the taxes of 95% of the American people?
When's obama gonna seal the Mexican border and round up and send back the 12 million illegals?
Will obama revoke their driver's licenses before sending sthem back?
Will obama cancel their SSI benefits before sending them back?
Wow---he has a lot of work ahead of him and all he's focusing on is Socialized health care and cap and trade.. Naughty, naughty....
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Good questions, Pirate. So, of course, The Great Obama will not answer, nor will his minions......
"The democracy will cease to exist when the government takes from those who would work and gives to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson.
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Obama is close to sending criminals from Gitmo into penal systems within the United States. The security has to be tightened and a drop back method is already in use in deployment of troops in Iraq. We cannot leave Afghanistan until we have officially captured Osama bin Laden the master mind of September 11th. Bombing the reactors in a country developing their first nuclear weapons would cause much more fall out as containment is not officially up to the START accordance signed by the United States and Russia to limit the amount of nuclear arms, increase security, and stop any leaks of nuclear material. The taxes are already being lowered as companies who resorted to outsourcing may face several strict fines as a result of their business dealings. When will companies close to the conservative movements stop backing the tired old ship them back as they continually turn around and hire illegal workers as you state Wyman's etc., however the workers at that factory return back to Mexico remember when the workers had no places to stay as promised, and were then given holes in the ground? Revoking the driver's licenses and SSI that usually follows through that they are hero on Visa's I think we got someone in Pirate who would put Irish need not apply. Or, else turn a blind eye to the suffering of human trafficking in relations to the sex slaves in the United States. Yes that's an easy route to play as conservative groups also cut back support to investigate in one article of reader's digest there was a reported drop in funding by a conservative to cut back on investigations into several suspected sex slave establishments.
Joe Ziehm
Lewiston ME
There are two kinds of Republicans in this world moderate and conservative for so long I've picked the moderate that now it is time to consider the path less traveled.
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Mr. Albrecht, Do you believe Socialism would be good for our USA?
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I don't think the argument is that families shouldn't have health insurance or access to affordable health care. I want all citizens of our country to have that.
Where I start to get nervous is how that's going to be paid for or when I get the sense that my insurance and access to health care will suffer.
My husband and I work hard (as I'm sure the writer does too), my health insurance is part of my compensation package. I live in fear of losing my job, more so due to a loss of insurance. My employer froze wages this year, my insurance premium increased. So, I took a cut in my take home pay. So I don't want health care reform to cost me more.
I didn't read the posts below because a few that I skiimmed where worthless rhetoric. This is an important issue that needs to be discussed and debated without the polictical nonsense and namecalling. I hope to goodness cooler heads prevail to bring us a decent plan.
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I sympathize, keland, but only so far. I'm 61 and in the highest premium bracket. For just me and my wife, the monthly premium is $1800 for medical + dental + vision. No, that is not a typo. I won't go into detail on how that's split between me and my employer, because it's irrelevant. Like all business costs, the end user pays. That's not evil, it's just the facts of life in the most free society on the planet.
I hope you won't consider it worthless rhetoric when I say again: The most efficient way to create really affordable health insurance is to demand that government, at all levels, get the hell out of the insurance business.
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YOu pay 1800 for medical-dental+vision? Under the government plan as a Federal employee, I have one of the best plans around-I pay $325 a month (family plan) for medical and vision and $13 a month for dental. And you all do not want a public option which would give you the same health plan as government employees??? Unbelievable
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Frosty I'm going to say this really slowly so that you can understand it there is corruption within that, the government is forming an investigation into commissions fraud, and the businesses have also extracted cash from their workers by short wiring their commission checks to convert them into the operational day to day operations. Which means you are not reading the fine print enough someone scammed you and did it pretty well that is not by the book of day to day operations. As a matter of fact the premium's don't really match as opposed and in concordance of your age and bracket. The employer might be taking advantage of you or that information could be a lie in the fair and honest truth segment. Unless of course your working in the insurance industry and your taking a cut out of someone else and their paycheck with a server and processor from the eighties which most companies use when extracting the information and denial of coverages from their lists of what to give workers. Which begs the question and makes me wonder what's wrong with investigating corruption within the industry?
If you seem to be so much of a wild hare about it then something smells. You either work in the industry, know your getting cheated, and or are cheating someone else out. Of course you also could not realize any of the information and just rely on getting scammed with a smile on your face and pretend its the American way. Or you could be lying about the level of care, most companies usually cover standard care, the extra's of medical, dental, and vision could increase more, or given time at the employment they could be lower, and that also begs the question which company do you use? The most efficient way to create really affordable health care is to destroy that commission, corruption, and graft game. I've seen it before the companies use an older DOS or UNIX system no graphical user interface, delete records, and force it not to show in the servers. Or in the paychecks for several months and yes that knowledge is something that companies have been trying to for years have discarded. Had that happen in a few companies that I work for mostly telecommunications not the cold calling racket the inbound racket.
Joe Ziehm
Lewiston ME
There are two kinds of Republicans in this world moderate and conservative for so long I've picked the moderate that now it is time to consider the path less traveled.
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Of course you won't be signing up for Medicare in 4 years, right? Or do your principles only go so far?
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At least I have some principles, which clearly differentiates me from Lil. Certainly I'll sign up - I have been paying for it for 40+ years. The topic here is health insurance for the uninsured. If you are 65+ and have not enrolled in Medicare, you are terminally stupid and, following the guidelines in Obamacare, should do your patriotic duty and die as soon as possible.
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Like I said, principles only go so far. Hypocrite much?
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So let's see Lil, your logic is this: Collectivists like you see a problem 40ish years ago and "fix" it with Medicare which takes more money directly out of peoples pockets. So when it comes time to collect that money that was taken from them it now becomes hypocritical to continue to oppose further collectivist failures such as this reform, if they opposed such backwards steps in the first place? Wow you're pretty slick there with that type of logic.
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It's like driving cross country to protest highways.
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As usual the right wingers have their pat answers. If you don't have health care insurance you are stupid, lazy, ignorant, whatever. They ignore because it doesn't fit with their world-view the well established fact that insurance companies deny coverage to those that get sick, those with pre-existing conditions, and those others they expect will cost them money. Health Care Insurance is about making profit not making people well. A public option is essential to restoring competition in the market.
Jon Albrecht Dixfield
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So really, what we have is a problem with insurance companies that offer health insurance, NOT health care.
Fine. Why doesn't the government go after the Insuruance companies who are denying people insurance because of pre-existing conditions, or age, or any number of other excuses? People cannot afford health care because health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and the health care industry have over-priced their products and services. NO plan is going to work unless the cost of these products and services are affordable.
John A. Chick
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Colonel Charles Yancey (January 6, 1816)
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Hail,Hail Jchick. My husband and I have both worked full time jobs since high school, we are raising three children, two with forms of disabilities. We currently pay over $600.00 monthly for health coverage for them and guess what? There is no money left for the $45.00 co pay that Aetna demands for every Dr and therapy appt. My children cannot even receive the dr recommeded therapies that they need to be able to function in society. (Of course the synical side of my brain is saying this is fantastic, they cannot function so they will now qualify for a lifetime of disability with out having ever paid a penny into this awesome system.) Do we want them to live this life?Of course not but unless the health care Gods smile upon us I don't see where we'll come up with the additional $800.00 per month for the co-pays needed to get them to a productive functioning level. So much for early intervention and screening with no $ backing it up, finding a problem early does not matter if the child cannot get the needed help to correct it. During periods when we were able to scrape up the money for these services, our children made great strides , we were financially unable to sustain the level of care they need so we now pray for their survival.You'll see us in the disability line soon to signup for one of our children will be 18 soon and will never qualify for any insurance on her own as her autism is a pre existing condition.
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And the self-proclaimed liberals here ignore the fact that it is illegal in Maine to deny coverage to the sick, to those with pre-existing conditions, or to charge higher premiums to those with riskier life styles. If an insurance company tries to, just report them to your closest left-wing Augustacrat. But just be aware that those illegalities are precisely why insurance costs so much here and why there only a handful of companies remaining who are willing to put up with all the rules and regulations promulgated by the Democrat party since the early 1990s.
If you can't afford insurance, please call John Elias Baldacci at 207-287-3531 and ask his staff to help you get enrolled in Dirigo Health, Maine's "public option" insurance. Oh, wait - I forgot that enrollment is closed, and has been for two years, because it's such a dismal failure. And this is one of the models for Obama-care. It is the model for government incompetence and we'll all get an overdose of that if jalbrecht1 and friends get their way.
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Ms. Arnold writes. "People die in this country every day because the cannot get the health care that they need and deserve."
The Pirate sez: Name two. Remember, they have to have died because they couldn't get the health care they needed and deserved.
The SJ should read these ltte's with greater scrutiny before printing such unfounded shallow statements. What's that you say? It's an opinion? Fine, state it as an opinion, but don't state it as unimpeachable fact.
Fear not the enemy at the gate, for it is the enemy within that will devour you.
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As a young man i had no health insurance as well but I worked hard, put myself through college and got a good job that provided it. That took tremendous effort and great cost in addition to money. I do not feel that those who sit on their duffs and hold out their hands for government aid deserve healthcare. No effort no benefits. It is that simple.
Go back to school pay the piper and get a job with benefits, that is the American way. If i could do it anyone can. To sit and complain while doing drugs, drinking and smoking away your life is your choice, live or die with it.
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Sorry, this was meant to be for Gaffa-Would you like to come and care for my kids while I return to school? Of course the pell grants would be the first form of government assistance I have ever received, but it may work out. As for the benefits, we both work full time to pay our own way, my husband does have a college degree and these are the very factors that are getting our children denied the health care they need. Though I was advised by maine care that my husband and I should seperate or divorce so we could get assistance for the kids. By the way when you were a young man did you have a spouse and three children to support?
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Would you like to come and care for my kids while I return to school? Of course the pell grants would be the first form of government assistance I have ever received, but it may work out. As for the benefits, we both work full time to pay our own way, my husband does have a college degree and these are the very factors that are getting our children denied the health care they need. Though I was advised by maine care that my husband and I should seperate or divorce so we could get assistance for the kids. By the way when you were a young man did you have a spouse and three children to support?
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Since you're such a beacon of virtue, you went to a private college, right? Because public colleges are gubmint supported and run. And, of course, you had no gubmint subsidized student loans or Pell grants, right? Because if you did, you'd be one of "those who sit on their duffs and hold out their hands for government aid".
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She's a young mother you just evaded the topic completely and lamented more about yourself then anything else when it comes down to a family in need. When it comes to a young mother you do great in coinciding your personal story in a sharp rapport of what goes in America today. I don't feel for anyone who redirects a topic and evades the question of living and dying like you do. You assume about someone's life style that's a traditional stance and common place point that they do not work because even though with a degree that prejudice you project can be seen under an assumed thought of care.
Assume that all of someones life is as you deem it and see it fit to deem. What do you do for work anyway? Since your robust egotistical nature and assumptions seem to run rampant what do you do for work? It is rather immature of you to assume that a persons lifestyle is not in voucher of work correct? In your crossing hemisphere line you state that you are assuming at the end that the present tense is best to accuse the young mother rather then regarding it with honor. What do you do for work I need to avoid you in the future something about your postings and going to college want to avoid any future dealings which I may have with you. That mindset those assumptions are the nature of a shark.
Joe Ziehm
Lewiston ME
There are two kinds of Republicans in this world moderate and conservative for so long I've picked the moderate that now it is time to consider the path less traveled.
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Cheers to Gil and to Nell
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WEll said Gil. WE certainly do NOT need the government controlling who gets care and who is not worthy of it because of age or disabilities. The young people should realize they have to make choices about where they spend their money and if they feel they want to spend it on other things than health care, that is their choice. The mentality of a lot of citizens in the US is that the government owes them health care, housing, food, etc. Who do they think the government is??? These hand outs are paid for by the people that are working to pay their own way and end up paying for those on the dole and those who think they should be given help from the govt. These washington fools need to be stopped before our country is completely ruined.
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The handouts would wind up costing companies which have been using fraud, corruption, and rackets for years to their own advantages. Does it come from day trading or stock swindles that gets you so railed up there Nelly? Remember, these companies have been using antitrust lawyers to defend every loaded case in front of them; just remember all the children who die when an HMO says no. It really does work well to see how the Neo-Nazi regime works out well and then when it's countered continually cries foul. You have the words right there Nelly just enough to prove it. My guess is for the "young people" as you state those just starting a family that with child if they need insurance and cannot afford it then they are allowed to be denied medical care.
Half of you conservative freak shows tapered onto the Neo-Nazi regime and its famous tactics. Humanity means nothing to you unless someone dies and then you cry croc tears for those that an HMO denies care. Then say there is no reform needed because well its the medical industry and that is how it operates. Just step out and admit it Nelly and Gil I'm waiting.
Joe Ziehm
Lewiston ME
There are two kinds of Republicans in this world moderate and conservative for so long I've picked the moderate that now it is time to consider the path less traveled.
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No one is saying reform is not needed. What people object to is the type of reform that is being proposed. The goverment has no business managing health care. It has a hard enough time managing itself. All you have to do is look at the VA hospitals to see a prime example of mismanagment of health care.
John A. Chick
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Colonel Charles Yancey (January 6, 1816)
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John;
The VA has been managing my health care extremely well, thank you.
Now relate to us how your statement " All you have to do is look at the VA hospitals to see a prime example of mismanagment of health care." resulted in a bad outcome of your health care.
We're all ears.
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When I was a young Sailor - I drank like a Sailor, fought like a Sailor, and screwed like a Sailor. Now that I am old and wise - I have a few scars, but many fond memories.
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Must be nice to live in such a perfect bubble GIL
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Yes it is. If by perfect bubble you mean using facts, logic, and reasoning to come to a pragmatic solution instead of using emotion and envy. In that case, yes, it is nice. If you mean supporting your family instead of expecting others to do it, instead of acting as though you are entitled to the fruits of someone elses labor, then yes, yes it is.
"In the history of the nation, there has never been a political party so ridiculous as today's Democrats. It's as if all the brain-damaged people in America got together and formed a voting bloc." Ann Coulter
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Another lib heard from. No one in this nation is denied "Access to health care". It may not be at the level you want, but you have access to it. Health care and health insurance are two different things. The government does not need to be in the business of health insurance given their abysmal track record with the health industry to date, ie, Medicaid, Medicare, Indian Health, and the VA. This health reform push has absolutely nothing to do with health care, and everything to do with gaining more power. 20 % of the GDP is a lot of control. Don't be fooled by the seemingly benevolent actions of those who voted to not let their 'reform; cover their own health care (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=104716). If it's not good enough for them, if they are not going to be forced to use the same system, what makes you think that it will be beneficial to you? Like it or not, you get what you pay for. You want real reform? Get the government as far away from your health care as possible. Drop the state controls and allow access nationally to health insurance if you want competition. Overhaul the existing mandated coverage to allow you to only pay for what you want, not what some bureaucrat thinks you should pay for. Stop allowing illegal immigrants to use our hospitals as their primary provider free of charge. Allow them basic emergency care, then deport them. The so called public option is the messiah's code word for the single payer option that he has wanted since publicly admitting it back in 2003. There will be no competition with the public option. What company can run with a deficit like the government can? None. That will cause the closing of insurance companies and the unemployment roles will only get larger. And if you are really naive (read - stupid) enough to believe that your taxes won't rise to pay for this public option, then you have no idea what you are talking about. You can't tax a small percentage of the population at that amount to provide coverage for the hundreds of millions that they claim it will cover. The whole idea is a a scam and a preposterous lie.
"In the history of the nation, there has never been a political party so ridiculous as today's Democrats. It's as if all the brain-damaged people in America got together and formed a voting bloc." Ann Coulter
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Gil is correct. There is a big difference between "health care" and "health Insurance". What we need is affordable health care. I can remember when you didn't need health insurance for an annual check up because things like that were affordable. Health insuruance was for major unforseen stuff. And that's a fact.
John A. Chick
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Colonel Charles Yancey (January 6, 1816)
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Gil doesn't deal in facts - only rants.
He's a happy little boy with his megaphone
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When I was a young Sailor - I drank like a Sailor, fought like a Sailor, and screwed like a Sailor. Now that I am old and wise - I have a few scars, but many fond memories.
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Seriously, World Nut Daily?
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So if someone dies because they cannot afford the medical treatment which maybe for a Paris Hilton but is not for them due to an HMO then it is there fault? Indian Health that's for the reservations and the VA is for veterans you seem to what to pull those away. Try pulling those ideas on the reservations for addiction treatments and VA for physical rehab from soldiers returning due to IED attacks. The government does need to step in and reform a corrupt market and racket. Another Nazi heard from and I would look you in the eyes, call you one, and wink Gil.
Joe Ziehm
Lewiston ME
There are two kinds of Republicans in this world moderate and conservative for so long I've picked the moderate that now it is time to consider the path less traveled.
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